Conversation on motivation,

creativity and innovation

Mats Sundgren

I2I week September 10th, 2012

Statements to be further explored

“It is amazing how much can be accomplished if no one

cares who gets the credit – John Wooden”

“Does bonus system enhance creativity/innovation in

organisations?”

“If you reward something do you get more of the

behaviour you want?”

“What kind of motivation is needed for creativity?”

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Objective

Discuss motivation as influencing creativity and

innovation

Give some examples of the surprising research in this

area

Discuss relations and implications of some of these

findings to the Learner/Player initiative and culture

change in AZ

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Just a recap on positioning creativity

and innovation

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Two views of creativity

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My view

• From a market perspective an innovation in the pharma industry is a

product recognised after launch

• Need at every level of the organisation- Involves a spectra of connected areas of ideas influenced by: infrastructure, ways of working

organization, culture, leadership, business model etc. AND motivation..and is always in

collaboration with others!!

Commercialization

Realization

R&D Innovation

Organisational creativity

Organisational creativity is what precedes innovation

Some drivers for organisational

creativity(also part of my own research

in the pharma industry and AZ)

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What makes a pharma company successful?

How can a company secure a strategy to

become more innovative without losing

effectiveness?

The creativity challenge

Motivation research

One key research question

If you reward something do you get

more of the behaviour you want?

Motivation

To be motivated means to be moved to

do something.

•• Intrinsic motivation Intrinsic motivation - refers to

doing something because it is

inherently interesting, challenging

or enjoyable

•• Extrinsic motivation Extrinsic motivation - refers to

doing something because it leads

to a separable outcome E.g. incentives, reward, bonus, promotion etc.

Two examples

The Candle problem

The Candle problem(K.Duncker,1945) is a cognitive

performance test, measuring

the influence of functional

fixedness on a participant's

problem solving capabilities.

Task

Fix the candle to a (cork

board) wall so that it will

burn without dripping

wax

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The Candle problem

S. Glucksburgh (1962) used the candle problem to investigate the

impact of incentives on a group level

Two groups

1. The faster you solve this

problem the more money you get

(incentivised)

2. Time to establish norms how

much it takes to solve this

problem (no incentives)

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The non-incentivised group (2)

did it on a significant faster

time compared with group (1).

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The Candle problem

Outcome

Incentive experiment from MIT

Group and individual levels

(students)

Grouped into three levels of

rewards (money)

Tasks and challenges ranged

from different types:Physical tasks, mechanical, word

puzzles, spatial puzzles, memorising

strings of digits etc.

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Incentive experiment from MITOutcome

As long as the task involved used only mechanical skills – bonus worked as expected

Higher pay = better performance

But once you get above rudimentary

cognitive skills – it is the other way around

Performance was bad – i.e. highest reward group performed worst.

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Some rather strong indications from

research

Extrinsic motivation such as

incentives works fine when tasks

are...

BUT Extrinsic motivation such as

incentives does not work well when

tasks are....

How could that be?

..Wait it gets worse....

Extrinsic motivation does not support

creativity(T. Amabile et al.)

The intrinsic motivation principle “Specifies that intrinsic motivation (derived from

interest and enjoyment of the activity itself) is

conducive to creativity,

While extrinsic motivation (directed at a goal separate

from the task) can be detrimental.”

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And even worse....

Incentives (i.e. extrinsic motivation)

does not support....(A.Kohn) Harvard Bussiness Review, WHY INCENTIVE PLANS CANNOT WORK

• learning,

• performance

• ...and personal satisfaction

• ….and does not change culture (you may

want)

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All right...somewhat hard to accept...

So lets go for intrinsic motivation –

everything to win BUT what to do?

Research indicate four factorsthat drive intrinsic motivation, support creativity – AND

improve performance, enhance personal satisfaction

Autonomy – the desire to be self-directed, which creates also increased engagement and collaboration

Mastery – the desire to get better at things

Purpose – the desire to see, and be involved in the larger picture, and not entirely be profit maximisers.

Feedback - recognition

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Some examples when these four

factor are combined

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Open Source

Development

Lab and Linux

Foundation

What to consider Some reflections from research

(my personal view)

• Creativity, innovation and excellence – are the natural

results of helping people experience intrinsic motivation.

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OK – what could be guiding principles since this is

not easy….

What to consider Some reflections from research

(my personal view)

• Pay people enough – and put the issue of extrinsic motivation

off the table.

• Nurture intrinsic motivation (through the four factors) - since it

is the rocket fuel for scientific curiosity that will support creativity• Be mindful of what extrinsic motivation is expected to achieve.

• Then add to that, (as Lebby & Kohn argue) provide: • Choice – employees able to participate in decisions

• Collaboration – secure exchange of knowledge and ideas of teams

• Content – refers to what people are asked to do: as F. Hertzberg said -

”If you want people motivated to do a good job, give them a good job to

do.”31

How does this research findings

relates to AZ on going culture

change?

In my mind there are several

implications

• Learner Player concept –

support intrinsic motivation

and vice versa

• Intrinsic motivation is a

KEY vehicle for sustainable

cultural change

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Discussion - What do you think?

For those who would like

know more....

You Tube

Dan Pink - The surprising truth about what

motivates us

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Thank you for your attention